family

Another year went by and I do not know where it went, yet I find myself, on this very day, utterly myself and utterly changed. I am 20 years old as of 4:50 am today and I have to say, I have never felt more Woman in my life.

I was talking to a very close friend of mine yesterday and she asked me if I think I have changed and how. The answers came flowing easily. I have less patience, in general. I cannot be bothered with feeble people and weak opinions, I want certainty and I want things my way. My demeanor has changed: starting university I decided to let people gravitate towards me, not the other way around, not caring if I had to be alone in order to be the person I always wanted to be. I immersed myself in my studies and the results are proof of that. My taste in partners has evolved: no more time for half-men and fuckboys, no more time for grey answers, it is either black or white. I have learned to live more in the moment and think before I speak. I have learned to not complain and be 100% positive, even when the circumstances are not ideal. I have learned to turn anxiety into energy and fuel.

I have grown so much as a person and as a woman and I am grateful for living the life I am living, for being able to study in an established institution, for having my small circle of friends who love and support me. There is nothing else I could think of that I need. I have it all.

My mother barged into my room yesterday, looked at me and said “Do you realise I am your mother? That I have been your mother for the past 20 years?”. And now I realise that and there is nothing I could be more thankful for. My mother is a great woman, who is good and kind and hard working, always with a smile on her face about to explode into laughter, while keeping me grounded and raising me into a self-aware and confident woman. She is my rock.

My 20th year will be my best one yet, I am certain. I hope you will stick around.

I honestly and truthfully cannot believe how fast this last quarter of 2017 went by. I did not even feel November pass by and now here we are, already celebrating (or not) the Holidays.

Now, for a university student, the Holidays do not have the same appeal they once had, since, at least for me, finals start on the 10th of January, therefore I have to study, study, study and study. Yes, I will try to take time off at least on the 25th and 31st, but besides that, I need to start grinding now, since the finish line is so close and expectations are so high.

For whomever celebrates any sort of holiday and for those who do not, I hope you enjoy your time off with your dearest ones and that you cherish every accomplishment and second of these days. A special “good luck” goes to those who work in retail and any other type of business that stays open during the holidays. May you find the time to drink a nice glass of wine and toast for good fortune.

I cannot believe it has taken me this long to make the second part of this post, but here I am and I have a lot to say. Here you can find part 1.

There are also photos taken at the beach that I posted on another post, right here, in a swimsuit review.

For the rest of our trip I took pictures of the scenery and of all the beaches we went to. For example, we went to a pretty private beach, called Golden Beach, with very little sand but great water. Unfortunately, again thanks to the jellyfish alarm, I was too scared to get in.

Another place we visited was a hill near Maleny from where we could see the Glasshouse Mountains, which are very dear to the people native to Australia.

We also went to Point Cartwright where I sunbathed a bit and then took some pictures of the ocean.

Our flight back was less eventful and I could not wait getting back home. It was an amazing and fun trip with family and if I ever am to come back to Australia, I would have to stay for at least a month to really enjoy it as it should be enjoyed.

I should start off by saying that I was and still am quite clumsy. Let’s change that to very clumsy. I have no idea why, I was just born like that. I used to always have bruises on my legs and I still do (from bumping against my bed and, occasionally, door frames). Matter of factly, I have plenty of scars on my knees to prove that I was wild.

Besides the very frequent stumbles and falls, the first big event in my life regarding my health was fracturing my right ankle. I was playing in front of the apartment building my grandparents used to live in and I tripped over a rock. A couple of days after that I remember seeing that rock again and looking at it with a lot of anger, for a 3 or 4 year old. Of course my ankle was put in a cast and I was supposed to enjoy bed rest. That did not happen since I would rather walk on one foot that stay in bed. I also happen to have some photos from a recital I did and you can clearly see the cast under my dress.

Look at that angelic face.

Since I could not stay still, I fractured my right ankle a second time and if I estimated correctly, I was in second grade. How did that happen, you might ask? Well, I was chasing after a boy, do not ask other questions, and I happened to trip on the only crack on the floor in the whole school. You can understand how lucky I have been over the years.

Next, I had pneumonia. That was honestly a pain. Since I did not want to stay in the hospital, grandma and I had to go every morning and evening for 30 days at the hospital to get my treatment injected. I did, however, manage to get some needle-less syringes to play with at home.

I, of course, also had Chickenpox but that was not as bad as I thought since I did not feel the need to scratch that much. I do still have one scar, a reminder of the first blister on my chest, which I thought was a mosquito bite. One problem that it brought was that I missed some of my Romanian classes and failed to understand the various tenses.

This next event is the one I am proud of. Yes, it is weird, but bear with me. My uncle, my cousin and I were at the park one day. Take into consideration that my cousin is quite younger than me and was at this stage a toddler. There was another girl that was playing on the swing; I should add that the swing was made of steel. Apparently, my cousin left her water bottle under said swing and she went to get it, obviously not understating the danger. I did, however, understand and I went and pushed my cousin out of the way and in that instant the swing hit me full force right where the hairline meets the forehead, in the middle. I blacked out for a couple of seconds and next thing I know, my uncle props me up on a bench and cleans my wound. I do not remember crying at this point, I was just in shock. He then took me to my family doctor which was nearby and I remember sitting in the waiting room with a gauze on my head worrying that I might have a big hole on my forehead. I remember desperately wanting to look in a mirror (typical me : insert hair flip emoji). The doctor then stitched me up without anaesthesia, since I was afraid of needles and that was the last thing I wanted. The result of all of that is 1. I look weird with a middle part and 2. I have a small scar a centimetre behind my hairline where hair does not grow, but it is barely visible. I am very proud of how my instincts acted that day.

Since then nothing major happened, except the occasional wrist or ankle sprain. I hope I kept you entertained by showing you the a part of clumsy/heroic me.